You teach kids how to read.
Wait. Let’s say that again.
YOU teach kids how to READ!
After learning about the science that goes into teaching reading, I am in awe of the process. I don’t want to admit it, but I was one of the “Read to your kids a lot, and they will learn to read” believers until I cracked open 7 Mighty Moves: Research-Backed, Classroom-Tested Strategies to Ensure K-to-3 Reading Success by Lindsay Kemeny.
Our team at Teaching Channel is always on the hunt for applicable, enjoyable, and research-based texts for teachers. And sometimes, we find books that feel like we’ve found the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg! That is definitely the case with 7 Mighty Moves.
What are the 7 Moves? Lindsay Kemeny defines them as:
Move 1: Teach Phonemic Awareness with Intention: Phonemic awareness is the understanding that spoken language can be broken down into phonemes.
Move 2: Teach Phonics Explicitly and Systematically: Phonics is the method we use to teach letter-sound combinations.
Move 3: Teach Decoding Strategies, Not Cueing Strategies: When students connect a word’s phonemes to its graphemes and attach them to meaning, the word is automatically recognized or read by sight.
Move 4: Use Decodable Texts Instead of Predictiable Texts with Beginning Readers: Decodable texts are designed to help students achieve mastery of the phonics skills they are learning. In decodable texts, most words are phonetically regular.
Move 5: Embrace a Better Approach to Teaching “Sight Words”: Any word that can be recognized automatically is a sight word.
Move 6: Focus on Meaningful Fluency Practice: The National Reading Panel defines fluency as “the ability to recognize words easily, read with greater speed, accuracy, and expression, and to better understand what is read.”
Move 7: Improve Comprehension by Developing Vocabulary and Background Knowledge: Not a single skill, but rather a combination of different skills: background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning, and literal knowledge.
Lindsay Kemeny wrote 7 Mighty Moves after discovering her youngest son wasn’t catching on to reading like his two older brothers had. He was diagnosed with dyslexia, and this journey inspired Kemeny to learn whatever she could about teaching reading.
7 Mighty Moves is filled with QR codes for templates and videos, personal stories, and glimpses into Kemeny’s classroom as she teaches her students how to read. If you are ready to rely on the Science of Reading to build a strong foundation for literacy, explore our Oral Language Unit Planner and Phonics Lesson Plan templates, and learn about all 7 Mighty Moves when our new course goes live on March 16th. In the meantime, check out all of Teaching Channel’s Science of Reading and Literacy courses!
About the Author
Susanne Leslie is a Professional Learning Specialist at Teaching Channel. She holds a B.A. in Sociology and a Master’s in Education. As a former parent educator, Susanne’s specialty is Culture, Wellness, and Early Childhood instruction. In her current role, she writes courses and content, and is an enthusiastic advocate for play and time outdoors as the best teaching tools.
Fun Fact: Susanne has jumped out of two (perfectly good) airplanes!
